Friday, April 18, 2014

Dank Fest 2014 Concert Preview!!

(Updated at 2:03 AM) A massive and well anticipated all ages concert will go down TOMORROW at The Oddfellows Hall, and it is Dank Fest 2014, as 12 mostly metal bands will descend for a day full of intense music, so here's our extended preview! Easily the biggest event so far to be put on by Tyler St. Amour since he launched his concert promotion agency Heavy North Entertainment, the event will be headlined by what amounts to a makeup date for North Bay extreme metal bands Thekillingfield & Buried Out Back, who were both snowed out of their planned headlining gig for H.N.E. in January at the same venue. With better weather and a far larger lineup, things are looking far more promising this time around, so be sure to welcome these guys back to the Soo, especially TheKillingField, who haven't been seen in town since the fall of 2011! Though the headline bands, they're not last on the lineup tomorrow, with Blood Shed Productions goregrind duo Rotopsy slated to go on last at 12:30 AM, fresh off of today's self-titled demo EP release, so pick it up tomorrow for $3 if you want! Local classic metal quintet Project 421 are second last at Dank Fest with a set at 11:45 PM, while TheKillingField & Buried Out Back will play at 10:30 & 9:30 PM respectively.

Local thrashers Pillory were slated to play at 8:45 PM, but were quietly removed from the lineup last night for unannounced reasons, though they've been quiet since the aforementioned Tyler St. Amour left the band last month. With the short notice, no band has been added to replace them, but the preceding two bands on the lineup have later start times. Now, local sludge/doom metal trio AlgomA will make their Oddfellows Hall debut at 8:30 PM, while local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore (who returned to the lineup to replace the new Brutaly Fatal) will take the stage at 7:30 PM, and grunge/hardcore duo Bad Back will retain the 6:30 PM slot in their first Oddfellows gig since last summer. Another out of town band (Orillia progressive metal trio Like Animals) will make their local debut at 5:30 PM, three years after dropping out of TheKillingField's 2011 show at The Roosevelt Hotel, so watch out for their brutal technicality as well!

Newer local alternative rock trio The Pixo Control (featuring Fever Tops & Social Suicide alumni) will make their Oddfellows Hall debut tomorrow as well at 4:45 PM, and they've shown some aggressive touches, so keep an eye on them, as I've heard very good things! Local funk/metal trio The Strange Coyotes will make their first live concert appearance since the departure of drummer Mike Haggith tomorrow night at 4:00 PM, and while I'd assume his replacement will be unveiled then, remember that Chase & James play solo gigs often without the need for a drummer. All female hard rock quartet The Danger Cats are slated to play at 3:15 PM, though I'll admit having heard talk that they might not be able to play. Again, if anything comes out, we'll have it here! Opening the show at 2:30 PM (and replacing the yet-to-launch Viva Emptiness) is the local/Ottawa indie trio formerly known as Like Father Like Son, as they recently changed their name to The North Shore for unannounced reasons.

This will also be their first gig since replacing guitarist Nathan Bouliane with The Strange Coyotes' Chase Wigmore, and since drummer Felipe Basoalto returned to replace keyboardist Julien Desormeaux, so how will the new lineup sound tomorrow? Be there to find out! Also in terms of lineup notes, remember that local punk/grunge duo Re-Born (the original Brutaly Fatal) have long since been replaced on the lineup, and we await finite word on their active status. Tickets for Dank Fest are $10 in advance through Tyler or Blood Shed Productions-affiliated bands (the price jumps to $13 at the door), though if you show your ticket from the January show that the headliners couldn't come for, you'll save $5! Given the extended length of this show, there are plans to cook sausages for fans behind the venue, though I will note that the current weather forecast calls for a few showers tomorrow. This is absolutely an ALL AGES show, and The North Shore open things at 2:30 PM, so for more current details, visit the Facebook event page and the above links!

I applaud the ambition of this massive concert (which had 14 bands at one point, let alone 12), and I sincerely hope everything goes off without a hitch, so fingers crossed this becomes a huge highlight of the 2014 local concert calendar! That's all for today, but I'll definitely be there tomorrow night, and I hope you guys are too, so stay tuned in case there's any late updates (and for our post-show coverage), and for a preview, here's TheKillingField playing a few songs live in Alberta! Thanks everyone!